Recently, it is becoming a general practice for the household to have an access at between information processing apparatuses, such as personal computers, through the use of a wireless LAN (Local Area Network).
In response, there is a trend toward developing a television receiver having an apparatus with the existing wireless LAN technology, to receive, reproduce and display a multimedia content provided by the Web or the like through a network.
In the meanwhile, at present, although there is somewhat disparity between countries, the wireless LAN ratings in general employment in the households centered on Japan and United States are defined under IEEE802.11b (see IEEE STD802.11b-1999 Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Higher-Speed Physical Layer Extension in the 2.4 GHz Band) as a radio transmission over 2.4 GHz band in conformity to IEEE802.11 (see IEEE STD802.11-1997 Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications), IEEE802.11g (see IEEE STD802.11g-2001 Draft) or IEEE802.11a (see IEEE STD802.11a-1999 Part11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Higher-Speed Physical Layer in the 5 GHz Band) as a radio transmission over 5 GHz band.
Under these ratings, the same bit string called SSID (Service Set Identification) is necessarily inputted to the apparatuses in order to wireless-connect the apparatuses within the same network. Namely, SSID is the information for identifying a wireless network. The apparatuses, belonging to the same wireless network, are necessarily set with the same SSID.
Meanwhile, the business organization WECA (Wireless Ethernet(R) Compatibility Alliance) recommends to get a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) qualification that assures the compatibility of between the wireless communication apparatuses of the makers for implementing wireless LAN communications conforming to the wireless LAN rating. For obtaining the WiFi qualification, it is presently requisite to employ a WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) protocol as a protocol to encrypt the communication data of between the wireless communication apparatuses within the network.
WEP-based encryption, despite its weakness is pointed out, is generally recognized necessary in providing a minimal level of security. For implementing communications with WEP encryption, there is a need to register a bit string called a WEP key having 40 or 128 bits commonly to the wireless communication apparatuses. Namely, for employing a cipher protocol and implementing wireless communications between wireless communication apparatus, there is a need to configure the same encryption key.
Herein, in the traditional wireless communication apparatus, generally an SSID or encryption key is generated from a character string or numeral string inputted by the user.
Meanwhile, of the wireless communication apparatuses for carrying out wireless LAN communications, there is a wireless communication apparatus serving as a radio repeater called an access point. In the repeater, the user is required to select and set an operation mode called Ad-hoc for LAN-connecting peer-to-peer between two wireless communication apparatuses and an operation mode called Infrastructure for LAN-connecting between a plurality (two or more) wireless communication apparatuses, in accordance with use situation.
Accordingly, in the case of architecting a wireless LAN network by the use of wireless communication apparatuses, the user is required to input an SSID, encryption key and operation mode.
Incidentally, where IP (Internet Protocol) is employed as a communication protocol, in order to participate in a network, there is a need to set a unique IP address existing within the same sub-net mask as of the apparatus already participated in the network. However, recently, concerning IP address setting, there has been developed and spread a contrivance, called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), AutoIP, UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), etc., capable of automatically setting IP addresses, eliminating the necessity of user's setting.
As noted above, for causing the radio communication apparatus to access a wireless LAN, the user is required to input an SSID, encryption key and operation mode.
Accordingly, even where the wireless communication apparatus as a television receiver incorporating a wireless LAN function is caused to access a wireless LAN network already architected, there is a necessity for the user to examine a character or numerical string for generating an SSID or encryption key set over the to-be-accessed wireless LAN network. The same character or numerical string must be input to and set up on the television receiver, posing a problem of inflicting a troublesomeness feeling upon the user.
Furthermore, the television receiver, because not having simple character input means, is required to inconveniently manipulate the input means troublesome for the user, e.g. software keyboard displayed on the screen, and input an SSID and encryption key (or character or numerical string generating those).
Meanwhile, conversely, where the character or numerical string for generating an SSID or encryption key is changed on the television receiver incorporating a wireless LAN function, the user is required to manually set again the SSID and encryption key on all the wireless communication apparatuses of within the wireless network the relevant television receiver is in access. Likewise, there is a problem of inflicting a troublesomeness feeling upon the user.